‘It’s massive’: Tedesco and DCE open up ahead of Origin I

What’s your earliest memory of State of Origin?

James Tedesco: The Shaun Timmins field goal. We went to school after that and everyone was trying to kick left-foot field goals the next day.

Daly Cherry-Evans: I’d say Billy Slater’s chip and chase.

How important is it to win game one of the series?

JT: It’s massive, especially at home. We’ll have a full crowd, we haven’t had a game here in two years. It would be a great start to have everyone backing us and getting a win at home.

DCE: History suggests it’s pretty important. It’s always nice to lead early, but any footy team will believe they can win whether it takes two games or all three to get it done.

If you could select one former Origin great to play in your team, who would it be, and why?

JT: “Freddy” [Brad Fittler] was my favourite player. I was a Roosters fan growing up and used to love watching him play for the Roosters and NSW. You could put him anywhere and he’d do the job.

Daly Cherry-Evans and James Tedesco.Credit:NRL Photos

DCE: I was lucky to play with so many of Queensland’s greats, but one player I’d choose is Artie Beetson. There is a fair argument to say there hasn’t been a more influential player in our proud history.

Do you have any rituals or superstitions before games?

JT: No, I just relax. I don’t think about the game too often on game day.

DCE: I like a strong coffee just before we start our warm-up.

What’s it like playing Origin in front of a sold-out home crowd?

JT: It’s awesome. I remember in 2019, I scored that try in the last second in front of the Blatchey’s Blues. I remember the whole crowd being blue. There’s no better feeling than that, the atmosphere is unreal. Especially when we’re walking out the tunnel, being able to lead the boys out, will be awesome.

DCE: It does not get any better than leading the team out to a game at Suncorp. The atmosphere can’t be replicated.

Who will be the breakout star of this year’s Origin series?

JT: I’ll go with Jarome Luai. He’s been playing some great footy the last two years and him and Nathan Cleary together have that Panthers combination. He’s been training really well and I think he’s a bit under-rated and overlooked for the other talent on this team. But he’s one of our best players, for sure.

DCE: We have so many great players to choose from but I’ll go with our fullback Kalyn Ponga.

Origin II is in Perth this year – should it be played overseas in New Zealand or the USA?

JT: It would be hard to do a long flight into a game, but it would be pretty cool to go [to Vegas], if we had two weeks to prepare.

DCE: I’m all for the game growing internationally. I just couldn’t see us taking Origin away from Australia anytime soon; it means too much to the Aussie people not just NSW and Queensland.

Watch the State of Origin exclusively live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now.

Most Viewed in Sport

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article